3. Social psychology

Question 1

what is social psychology the study of?

Answer 1

• social thinking: how we think about our social world
• social influence: how other people influence our behaviour - social relations: how we relate toward other people

Question 2

what is an attitude?

Answer 2

Attitude: a positive or negative evaluative reaction toward a stimulus, such as a person, action, object, or concept

Attitudes influence behaviour more strongly when situational factors that contradict our attitudes are weak

Question 3

what is cognitive dissonance?

Answer 3

the feeling of discomfort due to holding 2 opposing opinions (e.g. a smoker accepting that smoking causes cancer)

Question 4

how can dissonance be resolved?

Answer 4

• change behaviour - acquire new information (e.g. seeking exceptions) - reduce the importance of the cognitions

Question 5

what is framing?

Answer 5

whether a message emphasises the benefits or losses of that behaviour

Question 6

when are loss-framed messages most effective?

Answer 6

when we want people to take up behaviours aimed at detection of health problems/illness

Question 7

when are gain-framed messages most effective?

Answer 7

when we want people to take up behaviours aimed at promoting prevention behaviours

Question 8

what are schemas?

Answer 8

mental or cognitive structures that contain general expectations and knowledge of the world they help us process info quickly and economically and facilitate memory recall so we are more likely to remember details that are consistent with our schema than those that are not

Question 9

what is social loafing?

What is the collective effort model?

Answer 9

the tendency for people to expend less individual effort when working in a group than when working alone.

Collective Effort Model: on a collective task, people will put forth only as much effort as they expect is needed to reach their goal

Question 10

when is social loafing more likely to occur?

Answer 10

• The person believes that individual performance is not being monitored
• The task (goal) or the group has less value or meaning to the person
• The person generally displays low motivation to strive for success
• The person expects that other group members will display high effort

Question 11

why does social loafing depend on gender and culture?

Answer 11

• occurs more strongly in all-male groups
• occurs more often in individualistic cultures

Question 12

when may social loafing disappear?

Answer 12

• when individual performance is monitored
• members highly value their group/task (goal)
• Individualism: which is the prioritisation or emphasis of the individual over the entire group.

Question 13

what is conformity?

Answer 13

•Conformity: the adjustment of individual behaviours, attitudes and beliefs to a group standard

conforming to the beliefs of people around you, despite holding different beliefs yourself

Question 14

which factors affect conformity?

Answer 14

- group size: conformity increases as group size increases, no increases over 5 group members –(no further increase after that)

- presence of a dissenter: one person disagreeing greatly reduces group conformity

- culture: greater in collectivistic cultures

Factors that predict conformity

Group Size

Unanimity

Cohesion

Status

Public Response

Lack of prior commitment

Question 15

Describe Asch conformity ?

Answer 15

Asch (1956) – Conformity

• Participants were given a very simple ‘vision test’ comparing lengths of lines and the subject was put in a room with many experimenters who all chose the wrong answer.
• The majority of subjects conformed with the group consensus
• In the control group (the subject undertook the vision test alone), less than 1% conformed

Question 16

what is group polarisation?

Answer 16

•Group Polarisation: tendency for people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed to a decision made alone or independently (e.g. diving head first into a bollard because your mates tell you it’s a good idea)

Question 17

what is groupthink and what factor influence group think?

What are some symptoms of groupthink?

Answer 17

the tendency of group members to suspend critical thinking because they are striving to seek argument

–More likely to occur when a group:

–Is under high stress to reach a decision

–Is insulated from outside input

–Has a directive leader

–Has a high cohesiveness

Direct pressure applied to people who express doubt

Mind Guards: people who prevent negative information from reaching the group

Members display self-censorship and withhold their doubts

An illusion of unanimity is created

Question 18

what is the bystander effect?

Answer 18

presence of multiple bystanders inhibits each person’s tendency to help Due to social comparison or diffusion of responsibility

Question 19

what is the 5-step bystander decision process?

Answer 19

1. Notice the event
2. Decide if the event is really an emergency- Social comparison: look to see how others are responding
3. Assuming responsibility to intervene -Diffusion of Responsibility: believing that someone else will help
4. Self-efficacy in dealing with the situation
5. Decision to help (based on cost-benefit analysis)

Question 20

how can we reduce restraints on helping?

Answer 20

–Reduce ambiguity and increase responsibility

–Enhance guilt and concern for self image

Question 21

how can altruism (helping others) be increased?

Answer 21

–Teaching moral inclusion

–Modelling helpful behaviour

–Attributing helpful behaviour to altruistic motives

–Education about barriers to helping

Question 22

what was the darley and latane experiment?

Answer 22

BYSTANDER EFFECT - participants thought they were taking part in a discussion about personal problems - they were in separate rooms in the lab and communicated via intercom - on the intercom, an actor acted like they were having a seizure - 87% of other participants helped if they thought it was just them and the actor - 31% helped when they believed they were in a group of 4 - hardly anyone helped if the group was greater than 4 - if the participant had not acted within 3mins they never acted

Darley & Latane (1968) – Bystander Effect

• Study on the Bystander Effect
• Participants were invited into the lab under the pretext that they were taking part in a discussion about ‘personal problems’ over radio
• Then one student in the adjacent room had a ‘seizure’
• When the participants were by themselves, the majority of subjects helped
• But when the subjects were in a group of 4, only around 30% helped
• When in groups of more than 4, almost no one helped

Question 23

what were the results of the darley and latane experiment?

Answer 23

• those that didn’t report an emergency appeared distressed: sweating, trembling hands, shame and guilt - the reasons given for not helping were not wanting to expose themselves to embarrassment/ruin the experiment as they were supposed to remain anonymous from one another

Question 24

what are the 3 different leadership styles?

Answer 24

Leadership Styles – Kurt Lewin (outline)

• Autocratic or Authoritarian Style – all decisions are made by a leader
• Participative or Democratic Style – leaders make decisions after consulting a group
• Laissez-faire or ‘Free Reign’ Style – leaves the group entirely to themselves

Question 25

what is the autocratic or authoritarian style of leadership?

Answer 25

• all decision making powers are centralised in the leader, as with dictator leaders - no suggestions/initiatives from subordinates are entertained - leader dominated

Question 26

what is the participative or democratic style of leadership?

Answer 26

• favours decision-making by the group, such as leader gives instruction after consulting the group - they can win the co-operation of their group and can motivate them effectively and positively

Question 27

what is the laissez-faire or “free reign” style of leadership?

Answer 27

• leaves the group entirely to itself - leader allows maximum freedom to subordinates

Question 28

what are the advantages and disadvantages of autocratic leadership?

Answer 28

ADVANTAGES: - enables quick decision making - clear hierarchy of responsibility

DISADVANTAGES: - can be demotivating - can lead to errors

Question 29

what are the advantages and disadvantages of democratic leadership?

Answer 29

ADVANTAGES: - can win cooperation and motivate team - can improve quality of decision making

DISADVANTAGES: - time-consuming - can lead to disagreements

Question 30

what are the advantages and disadvantages of laissez faire leadership?

Answer 30

ADVANTAGES - allows autonomous working - allows expertise to be utilised

DISADVANTAGES - can lead to lack of direction - lack of ultimate responsibility holder

Question 31

What is obediance?

which factors influence obedience?

Answer 31

•Obedience: the compliance with commands given by an authority figure

• remoteness of the victim :obedience greatest when victim cannot be seen (applies to the Milgram study)
• closeness and legitimacy of the authority figure
• diffusion of responsibility: obedience increases when someone else does the dirty work.- If someone has less responsibility in a situation, they will be more likely to obey others who now are responsible for their action. E..g in medicine, nurses will administer whatever doctors tell them to
• not personal characteristics. Little difference in personal characteristics of those who obeyed/ disobeyed (i.e. personal characteristics/personality traits don’t affect obedience)

Question 32

what was the Milgram experiment (1974)?

Answer 32

OBEDIENCE - one ‘learner’ and one ‘teacher’ - participants were told the experiment studied the effect of punishment on learning and memory - a shock generator was used as punishment - shocks grew in intensity with each mistake - Milgram investigated how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person: ‘learner’ (actor) was shocked every time they answered wrong (the ‘teacher’ could hear the screams).

Milgram (1974) – Obedience

• There was one ‘learner’ and one ‘teacher’
• An actor was placed in an electric chair and was asked questions to test their memory
• The participants of the study were asked to give electric shocks of increasing intensity as the actor got more and more questions wrong
• Even when the shock level reached lethal levels and the actor seemed unconscious or dead, the majority of participants still obeyed the command to deliver a shock

Question 33

what were the results of the Milgram experiment?

Answer 33

• 65 ‘teachers’ continued to the highest level of 450v
• all participants continued to 300v
• ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure even if it means killing an innocent person

Question 34

what is stereotype, prejudice and discrimination?

Answer 34

• Stereotype – Generalisations made about a group of people or members of that group, such as race, ethnicity, or gender. Or more specific such as different medical specialisations (e.g. surgeons)
• Prejudice – To judge, often negatively, without having relevant facts, usually about a group or its individual members
• Discrimination – Behaviours that follow from negative evaluations or attitudes towards members of particular groups